Huge decrease in national TV exposure is part of Wolves' new reality

Welcome to the Tuesday edition of The Cooler, where you can have a full week to evaluate me before deciding how to use me. Let’s get to it:

*When last year’s NBA schedule came out around this time in 2018, expectations for the Timberwolves were made clear: they were slated to appear nationally on ESPN, ABC or TNT a combined 13 times.

While that’s not even close to the number for the likes of Golden State, it reflected that the Wolves were coming off a 47-win season and playoff berth — and had every reason to believe Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns and co. would continue to contend and be good for ratings.

*I started watching the Vikings on a regular basis in the late 1980s. Here is a brief ranking of the Vikings kickers from those 30 years:

1. Ryan Longwell: Six blissful years of 86% field goal accuracy from 2006-11. Vikings fans would do just about anything for a run like that now.

2. Fuad Reveiz: Made 77.8% of his field goals at a time when the standard was lower than that (1990-95), rightfully earning the nickname “Fuadomatic.”

3. Blair Walsh: I know how it ended, and it wasn’t good. But the guy still made 24 field goals of more than 50 yards between 2012 and 2016, including an absurd 10-for-10 from that distance as a rookie in 2012.

4. Gary Anderson: Again, I’m aware of the history. But inside 40 yards, he was nearly flawless.

5. Rich Karlis: Only kicked one year with the Vikings, but he made 31 of 39 and did it barefoot!